Trinity's Morrow looks to challege for Tall City title

Published 6:30 pm, Thursday, February 23, 2012

Trace Morrow knows that his golf game will get better as the weather warms up and the spring progresses.

So when he won medalist honors at the Fort Stockton Invitational last week it was both surprising and gratifying.

It was surprising for Morrow, a junior at Trinity, because he said both rounds were a grind, and it was gratifying because he beat some of the area's best small school players.

"Honestly, I wasn't playing that good, and I was surprised to put those scores together," said Morrow, who shot a 75-76--151 last week in Fort Stockton.

This weekend, Morrow will go for his second straight win when he competes for the Chargers in Division II of the Jack Ratcliff Tall City Invitational golf tournament here in his hometown.

The two-day high school golf tournament will begin today with play in two divisions at Green Tree Country Club and Ranchland Hills Golf Club. Division I has a similar lineup to previous years with Lee, Midland High, El Paso Franklin, Odessa Permian and other teams from across El Paso to Amarillo to Abilene.

But it was Division II that went through a change this year. Because the Region I-3A tournament was moved to San Angelo, there was no longer a conflicting tournament in Lubbock this weekend.

That brought back teams such as Andrews, Monahans, Snyder, Big Spring and Seminole to Midland, and those are the type of teams that Morrow and his Trinity teammates like to play against.

"It challenges us, and it makes some of us work hard and to try to play good," Morrow said. "Most of us want to beat the other teams and be on top like everybody else."

Morrow said he took the month of December off to rest, and started playing again in January and said his game is not quite where it needs to be. But he said help with his mental approach from his coach and Green Tree assistant professional Stuart Hendley made the difference in winning last week in Fort Stockton.

"I kind of owe a lot to my coach because he helps out with my mental game," Morrow said. "I think that's what really helped."

The Chargers are members of the Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship, and needless to say the TCAF state tournament has not provided much competition through the years. So, playing in tournaments such as the Tall City has provided plenty of motivation for players such as Morrow, who know that a good performance can help him get noticed by college coaches.

"(Trace) competing in and trying to win at this level is where he needs to be, and it needs to be the measuring stick for him," Trinity golf coach Chris Jauz said.

Morrow said he is familiar with some of the players from Andrews, and that makes winning tournaments playing against them that much better.

"There are a lot of teams out there that are really challenging," Morrow said. "I know G.K. Morrison and Hunter Montgomery (from Andrews) and I've played with them forever. It's always fun to strive and beat guys like that."